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My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

theintercept.com

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Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#21

Post by justaman »

resters wrote: post #17

The major takeaway is that one can't count on the NYT to challenge powerful interests. This makes the NYT a powerful conservative force in US culture. It follows that most of the articles that appear opposed to powerful interests are a) inconsequential, or b) used as a distraction, helping to create the impression that the paper is anything but a powerful conservative force. It's no accident that the paper ran the Ju…

I think its narrow minded to assume a tool of the government is right wing, or left wing for that matter.

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#22

Post by finnthehuman »

rdtsc wrote: post #9

> Obama was determined to extend and even expand many of Bush’s national security policies, including a crackdown on whistleblowers and the press. Ignoring the possible consequences to American democracy, the Obama administration began aggressively conducting surveillance of the digital communications of journalists and potential sources, leading to more leak prosecutions than all previous administrations combined. I…

This kind of thing is why people say the dems and repubs are the same party with two coats of paint.

Before 2008 there were a lot of issues the mainstream left were vocal about. 8 years of Obama and only a select few even got lip service. Now neither the democrats nor any vocal factions of the left seem to care about them.

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#23

Post by resters »

justaman wrote: post #21
resters wrote: post #17

The major takeaway is that one can't count on the NYT to challenge powerful interests. This makes the NYT a powerful conservative force in US culture. It follows that most of the articles that appear opposed to powerful interests are a) inconsequential, or b) used as a distraction, helping to create the impression that the paper is anything but a powerful conservative force. It's no accident that the paper ran the Ju…

I think its narrow minded to assume a tool of the government is right wing, or left wing for that matter.

I agree, but I'm using the term in a way that resonates with the popular use of the word in modern American politics. The point might be lost if I instead used the more precise phrase "authoritarian, status-quo preserving".

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#24

Post by Tomte »

justaman wrote: post #21
resters wrote: post #17

The major takeaway is that one can't count on the NYT to challenge powerful interests. This makes the NYT a powerful conservative force in US culture. It follows that most of the articles that appear opposed to powerful interests are a) inconsequential, or b) used as a distraction, helping to create the impression that the paper is anything but a powerful conservative force. It's no accident that the paper ran the Ju…

I think its narrow minded to assume a tool of the government is right wing, or left wing for that matter.

I think in his comment he is making a clear difference between "the right" and "conservative", which is a related, but not entirely identical, term.

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#25

Post by jackpirate »

I found the following passage remarkable:

In another recent incident that gave me chilling insight into the power of government surveillance, I met with a sensitive and well-placed source through an intermediary. After the meeting, which occurred a few years ago in Europe, I began to do research on the source. About an hour later, I got a call from the intermediary, who said, “Stop Googling his name.”

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#26

Post by the_rosentotter »

resters wrote: post #17

The major takeaway is that one can't count on the NYT to challenge powerful interests. This makes the NYT a powerful conservative force in US culture. It follows that most of the articles that appear opposed to powerful interests are a) inconsequential, or b) used as a distraction, helping to create the impression that the paper is anything but a powerful conservative force. It's no accident that the paper ran the Ju…

I think the big papers (New York Times, Washington Post) have always been the voice of the establishment. I remember reading their editorials broadly condemning the labor movement while it was fighting for basic rights (and being slaughtered by public and privatized law enforcement) in the middle of the 19th century. Perhaps at times more humanist than others, but nevertheless.

I also think it is really obvious that it would be this way. There is hardly any money in selling newspapers, even well before the internet completely obliterated that business. But shaping public opinion? That is valuable beyond measure, for the right (moneyed) interest groups.

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#27

Post by hopler »

the_rosentotter wrote: post #26
resters wrote: post #17

The major takeaway is that one can't count on the NYT to challenge powerful interests. This makes the NYT a powerful conservative force in US culture. It follows that most of the articles that appear opposed to powerful interests are a) inconsequential, or b) used as a distraction, helping to create the impression that the paper is anything but a powerful conservative force. It's no accident that the paper ran the Ju…

I think the big papers (New York Times, Washington Post) have always been the voice of the establishment. I remember reading their editorials broadly condemning the labor movement while it was fighting for basic rights (and being slaughtered by public and privatized law enforcement) in the middle of the 19th century. Perhaps at times more humanist than others, but nevertheless. I also think it is really obvious that…

How is the new york times staff or owners profiting from supporting those moneyed interests?

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#28

Post by SlowRobotAhead »

rdtsc wrote: post #9

> Obama was determined to extend and even expand many of Bush’s national security policies, including a crackdown on whistleblowers and the press. Ignoring the possible consequences to American democracy, the Obama administration began aggressively conducting surveillance of the digital communications of journalists and potential sources, leading to more leak prosecutions than all previous administrations combined. I…

>For some reason I thought privacy, freedom of speech and transparency would be priorities but they weren't.

He's a constitutional law professor! He loves his blackberry! Those girls that campaigned and danced around for Obama were hot. Yay his skin color doesn't matter - except it totally matters! He'll stop the wars! He's so cool he tweets out things!

Because you were sold on an extremely effective misinformation campaign specifically targeted at you. It's not that you should feel bad - but I'd hope you'd be able to see it if it happened again (and it is happening again, it's just opposite now).

... I'm sorry, perhaps I'm bitter because I saw exactly what this was in 2007, then had to put up with 8 years of watching the media entirely cover for him. It was annoying. What's worse is that even now people still fall for the "I had a scandal free presidency" absolute lie.

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#30

Post by lord_basics »

rdtsc wrote: post #9

> Obama was determined to extend and even expand many of Bush’s national security policies, including a crackdown on whistleblowers and the press. Ignoring the possible consequences to American democracy, the Obama administration began aggressively conducting surveillance of the digital communications of journalists and potential sources, leading to more leak prosecutions than all previous administrations combined. I…

Obama was CIA from birth or was at least born to a family of assets:

- his parents met in a Russian language class in Hawaii - father graduated from Harvard - father worked for oil companies and government in Kenya - mother moved to Jakarta and Pakistan working for NGOs, funded by development banks - paternal grandfather worked for British colonial forces in Europe, India, and Africa - maternal grandmother worked for bank that dealt with emerging markets in Pacific

If you know people that work for the company... or with the company... these are pretty typical covers and paths. No one declares themselves an officer, they're just working on an ag tech startup in the desert! Or Mormon... there are so many Mormons. They generally have no vices, travel for missionaries, BYU has amazing language courses, and they believe in the mission.

Think about how many people during the Cold War moved to a remote island to take intensive Russian language classes.

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